A Youth's Definition to Being Political in Our America

By Ely Flores

LA CAUSA YouthBuild Alumni/Staff, Los Angeles

What is social change? Is it fighting for better education? Is it demanding more jobs in your community? Or is it challenging prisons systems that are incarcerating people of color at a high rate? Social change is all those things and fighting to liberate yourself from oppressions that we as youth have internalized.

But in order to fight for change, you need to be political. What does it mean to be political? Do you have to be in politics to be political? Politics is not the only way to be political. As a person of low income working class or under resourced, being political is defined differently. To us, being political is doing something different or in the contrary of what statistics, media, and society tells us. If you fall into any of the following criteria, YOU ARE POLITICAL!:

If you are attending school, you are political.
If you have got your high school diploma, you are political.
If you are in college, you are political.
If you are helping a little child become better in school, you are political.
If you have a child, and you are caring for them, you are political.
If you have a job, you are political.
If you are helping to better your community, you are political.
If you are not locked up, you are political.
If you were born in a ghetto, and are still alive, you are political.
Aside from these criteria, there are many more ways that you can be political. All these things are opposite of what society, media, and statistics tells us we are. So any time we do the contrary, we are political and making political statements. We are not expected to graduate high school or be in college, we are not expected to take care of our children, we are not expected to care about our community, we are expected to be locked up, BUT YOU ARE NOT! You are political because you are doing something different from the statistical norms.

Now you need to take your politicalness to the next level. We cannot only make political statements; we need to be politically active. How will you be one of those agents for social change? Will you begin to organize your community? Will you begin to outreach to politicians for more resources and opportunities for your community? Will you fight back against oppression? Will you empower more people to be political like you, and be agents of social change on the side of justice and positivism? It is up to you to continue to be political and fight for social change. If you are taking this challenge on, what are your next steps towards social change?

Ely's perspective is a really unique and empowering way to think about being political. I want to hear from other young people about how they are being political.

One of my goals in 08' is to create social change to better my existing community. I will organize a community watch in my community not to stop crime but to unify busy neighbors and parents. Crime is only a symptom of the larger problem where I live. The real problem that must be addressed is that we have to change the way my community interacts with each other. Our children and parents have become invisible and they need to know that what we have here is a community that cares about its neighbors. Thanks, Ely for asking such thought provoking questions.

Jahi